breathe.

if the rescued kids are able to get word to their compatriots still in the cave and say something like, “Hey, that was weird and I didn’t like it much, but I’m fine, and you will be, too! Stay calm, it’s not that hard, really...and we’ll SEE YOU SOON!!”

Done for the day? WTF? There is NO day (or night) in the cave. If there are deteriorating conditions... i.e. lack of good air in the spot where the boys were trapped (media keeps saying depleting oxygen levels... but the real danger should be increasing CO2 levels from the people trapped) OR a danger of rising waters due to possible more rainfall (although I understand that the hastily built dam about the cave system is working to keep runoff from entering the cave). In any case, there should be no pause in rescue operations so long as they have the resources to operate and the route has been prepared (obviously since they have extracted 8 already).

and I heard two more bits of information from the media the morning...

Air tanks are empty and have to be refilled... that is a WTF to me... I'm dead certain that a truck could be driven to the site within a few hours with literally hundreds of scuba tanks (pre-filled) on board. I see most divers going into the cave system are using the most common scuba tank in the world - Aluminum 80s - not my choice for such a dive but whatever. Thailand (in the south) is well known for having some of the best scuba diving in the world.. I'm certain that there are literally hundreds of filled tanks... not to mention that in dive shops I've been associated with the compressor operation fills not scuba tanks, but dozens of much larger tanks... those tanks then feed a manifold system to fill individual scuba tanks, usually in minutes.

The safety lines need to be restrung in a few places - OK, with so many divers using them I suppose that they could come loose - this is limestone after all so even getting a good purchase for the anchors could be difficult.

But halting for the day to do that? Weird.

Anyway... just an old cave diver, dive master, dive instructor here... and I'm just confused about what they are doing.

Not a diver, cave or otherwise, but sure they are doing everything they can to help.

this is in the Thailand mountains. extreme northern part of the country.

So they were planting tanks at the same time as the team was going in to rescue the boys Monday. They didn't stop it seems. Maybe they did not know how much air tethering a boy to a diver would take. That is how they got them out. And maybe the boys are going through tons of air as they may be scared. Don't want to think about it but those kids are amazing and the divers are amazing. And the logistics are amazing.

Everything has to be in place just so, including the oxygen, and they only have so much space to work with. That in and of itself is a complicated, time-consuming undertaking. Saman Kunan died doing that. And the divers who are now most familiar with the cave and its perils need rest.

They're being cautious as all hell because of the dangers. I can't say that I blame them.

I'm sure they have all the help they need. I don't understand stopping for the night. I'm sure they have enough cave divers to work in shifts.

While they have eighteen divers working, some divers are going to know the most dangerous bits more than others. They want the diver who knows every inch of various obstacles.

At least, that's my theory.

I suspect the problem is that it is basically a one way road. While the boys are coming out, there is no way to bring in fresh supplies for the next wave. Until the last boy is out, there is little room from moving new supplies "upstream". I also suspect after the boys are out, divers that are in the cave have to exit. Basically until the last man is out, they probably can't do much resupply. There may also be a decision that says the same 17 people who are in the cave will be the same for all rescues. The 10 hours confuses me a little bit, but this is an insanely dangerous rescue attempt. People who have been doing cave rescues for decades say this is the worst situation by far. They didn't even want to do it at all but felt forced into trying because all the other options were worse. Many books and seminars will be written and conducted after this one. It will probably change cave rescue procedures for a good long time.

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